Tesla Invests $3.1-million In Halifax Battery Research
HALIFAX — Tesla has invested more than $3-million in Halifax-based battery research.
The electric car manufacturer gave the money to a team of battery researchers led by Dr. Jeff Dahn, operating out of Dalhousie University.
Tesla’s investment comes at the same time as a $2.9-million grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council.
NSERC is the major federal agency responsible for funding natural sciences and engineering research in Canada. Its Alliance grants encourage university researchers to collaborate with partner organizations from the private, public, or not-for-profit sectors.
According to a Dalhousie University press release, the combined $6-million from Tesla and the NSERC will be used to “help develop advanced batteries for electric vehicles and grid energy storage.”
The research will continue an exclusive partnership between Dalhousie University and Tesla that has been ongoing since 2015.
The partnership began with a first-of-its-kind research agreement between Tesla and Dahn’s research lab.
Dahn, a leading lithium-ion battery scientist, was named NSERC/Tesla Canada Inc. Industrial Research Chair and the Canada Research Chair in Materials for Advanced Batteries. He began research for Tesla in 2016.
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Since then, Dahn’s lab has filed patents and released papers describing significant advances in lithium-ion batteries—the key technology underpinning Tesla’s operations.
This year, Tesla extended the partnership until at least 2026, just as Dahn’s research team expanded to include Dr. Chongyin Yang as the Tesla Canada Chair and Dr. Michael Metzger as the Herzberg-Dahn Chair.
In a recent news release, Dahn called Tesla a “wonderful partner” and said its latest investment will allow him and his colleagues “to solve many remaining puzzles that will help improve battery lifetime and lower cost.”
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